Yusuf Loraal, the Horrible Holidays Of #1
"rrgh, I hate this time of year."
"You're just jealous. When are you going to get off your ass and actually try _talking_ to the next pretty girl you see?"
"Oh, shove off, Derin. Do you even remember the name of this one?"
"Who?"
"You're horrible."
Derin stifles a chuckle. "Come on, you're always like this. Cheer up a bit. Listen, I gotta go, but if you're still sitting there when I get back, I will drag you out to a bar. Make ya mope with company."
"Ha. Seeya."
Yusuf slouched back a bit as the door slid shut. It was a little annoying, sometimes, not being able to talk about where you'd been for the past year or so, but at least no one bothered him about _that_. Few people signed on with the Combined Federal Services and wound up at TYCS Camp R.
Most people managed to stay in one place for longer than a few months before bouncing out of CFS Office of Research and Design, though. Yusuf had been through basic training and had some experience in the Ground Services - such was required for anyone signing on with the CFS - but his 'wishlist' was largely research assignments. He'd gotten on with a Dr. Lesaan, for a while, which wasn't exactly his top choice, but it paid alright and the travel was interesting, at least until Lesaan's little operation found itself assigned to Camp R, and he followed.
Camp R itself had something of a reputation as a prestige assignment, and most people assumed Yusuf was downright bitter over getting booted from it. In reality, with Lesaan's shady disappearance, they'd needed to assign a new researcher to the projects underway there, and after a brief period of sorting through what was and wasn't good, the old assistants were let go, which, of course, meant that Yusuf's pay had evaporated, and all before anything remotely attributable had been created.
Out of all the crap that'd recently screwed up his career, though, that wasn't what was bothering Yusuf. No, instead it was the anniversary of his enlistment with the Combined Federal Services, and that meant yet another long and emotionally manipulative message would be waiting on his outside comm unit come morning. When he'd enlisted, his mother had been apoplectic, proclaiming that the act of enlisting meant he'd never cared for her, or would be disintegrated, or that some other grim fate would befall him, leaving her all alone in the world. Yusuf had tried to explain that it was a good move, since they'd pay for his tuition and even help with job placement after school. He'd always been a smart kid, his instructors said, and real interested in how things worked, and how they fit together into a larger whole.
He was a little naive, perhaps. Certainly hadn't expected all the tears. She yelled at him for what seemed like forever about how he was throwing his life away, how the CFS would just suck him up and he'd disappear into the military machine never to be seen again. Ironically, being assigned to Camp R had done exactly that, when seen from the outside.
While most of her scenarios were patently absurd, she also wasn't entirely wrong. The first place they'd sent him was Mars. He'd gone through Basic at a small training base outside of Kitharmani, where he wasn't particularly exceptional. He didn't wash out, at least, and he'd basically done guard duty for twelve months out on Mars, usually rotating to a new zone of the Qaaol protectorate every two. That region was now various combinations of Midlonian, Kajali, and underwater, what with the slow progress of greening Mars, but still. Actually sticking with it for a year had brought with it a promotion to Private First Class.
At least, for now, he was on leave, even if he was still stuck on Titan. He'd been trying to figure out why, exactly, but he'd been stonewalled in his inquiries and his 'leave' was a little odd. The powers that be hadn't exactly decided what to do with him, it seemed.
Oh well. Not a lot he could do about that at the moment.
